Taylor Swift's latest album, "Folklore," has made waves in the music industry, selling over 1.3 million copies worldwide within just its first day of release. This remarkable statistic highlights not only her star power but also the dedication of her fans, who eagerly purchased various deluxe editions. In a streaming-dominated landscape, where few artists can inspire such a physical purchase, Swift's achievement stands out. The album, recorded secretly during quarantine, invites listeners to experience it in a traditional format, encouraging them to enjoy the music from start to finish, savoring the connections between its 16 tracks.
With contributions from talented collaborators like Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon, "Folklore" showcases a range of emotions and experiences. As listeners journey through the album, they encounter its varying highs and lows, reminiscent of the classic structure of a great LP. This article will provide a comprehensive ranking of each song on "Folklore," analyzing its themes and musicality while celebrating Swift's continued evolution as an artist.
As we dive deeper into the album, we'll explore the intricate storytelling and emotional resonance present in each track. From its opening number to the poignant closing pieces, "Folklore" offers a rich tapestry of experiences that resonate strongly with fans and newcomers alike. Get ready to dissect the magic behind Taylor Swift's "Folklore" and discover what makes each song unique.
Table of Contents
- 16. "The 1"
- 15. "Hoax"
- 14. "Epiphany"
- 13. "Cardigan"
- 12. "Mad Woman"
- 11. "My Tears Ricochet"
- 10. "Peace"
- 9. "This Is Me Trying"
- 8. "August"
- 7. "Betty"
- 6. "Illicit Affairs"
- 5. "Seven"
- 4. "Exile"
- 3. "The Last Great American Dynasty"
- 2. "Invisible String"
- 1. "Mirrorball"
16. "The 1"
In keeping with its surprise roll-out, “Folklore” wasn’t heralded by an advance single. But you can hear the album’s opener doing some of the work that a single might’ve done to guide listeners into Swift’s latest era: “I’m on some new s—,” she proclaims at the top of “The 1,” about an imagined life with an ex, and though this track feels less emotionally daring than any to come — something of a tradition for latter-day Swift openers — its artisanal indie-folk textures effectively reframe her voice.
15. "Hoax"
Another Swift hallmark that “Folklore” carries through is the contemplative slow-mo closer, represented here by this pretty if somewhat blah meditation on a painful belief in somebody’s “faithless love.”
14. "Epiphany"
One problem with maintaining a mood throughout an hour-long album (as Swift largely does on “Folklore”) is that it can all start to feel a bit samey toward the end, as in this dreamy-dreary Taylor Swift-meets-Sigur Rós-style jam. Intriguing lyric, though, that seems to take in the horror of COVID-19 (or perhaps her mom’s experience with cancer): “Something med school did not cover / Someone’s daughter, someone’s mother / Holds your hand through plastic now / ‘Doc, I think she’s crashing out.’”
13. "Cardigan"
Swift has channeled Lana Del Rey at least once on each of her albums since “1989,” and here it happens in the woozy first part of a three-song suite about a teenage love triangle.
12. "Mad Woman"
More delightfully unexpected language from America’s one-time sweetheart, who asks the person (or people) witch-hunting the title character what they see when they envision her face: “Does she smile? / Or does she mouth, ‘F— you forever’?”
11. "My Tears Ricochet"
A sequel of sorts to “Mad Woman,” this icy arena-goth number — one of several tracks on “Folklore” co-written and produced by Swift’s old pal Jack Antonoff — is narrated from beyond the grave, as a dead woman addresses the tormentors she “didn’t want to have to haunt.”
10. "Peace"
Swift revealed a previously hidden R&B streak in “False God,” from last year’s “Lover,” and here you can detect Prince’s influence in a sensual yet prayer-like ode with funky bass and a complicated vocal melody that unspools according to its own internal logic. “You know that I’d swing with you for the fences / Sit with you in the trenches,” she pants, “Give you my wild, give you a child / Give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other.”
9. "This Is Me Trying"
Swift seems off her metaphor game in the ungainly “Cardigan,” but she’s utterly on point in this mournful orchestral-pop dirge: “You’re a flashback in a film reel on the one screen in my town,” she sings — as sharp a rendering of regret as any we’ve heard from her.
8. "August"
Part 2 of the love-triangle trilogy sets a story about cheating against the LP’s lushest arrangement: a gorgeous weave of strings and horns and guitars that demonstrates the depth of Swift’s writerly empathy on “Folklore.”
7. "Betty"
Indeed, in the trilogy’s final chapter, she tries, amid “Harvest”-style harmonica and pedal steel, to get into the head of the teenage boy two-timing Swift’s obvious stand-in. “I’m only 17, I don’t know anything,” she has him begging her — an excuse she sounds (almost) willing to accept.
6. "Illicit Affairs"
And why would she accept it? Because she’s been the cheater herself, at least in song, as in this moving exploration of how — and why — people betray those they love. Singing tenderly over hushed acoustic guitar, Swift traces an affair from thrilling rendezvous in “beautiful rooms” to tawdry “meetings in parking lots.”
5. "Seven"
More narrative experimentation as Swift moves skillfully between two distinct points of view: that of a young girl who thinks her best friend lives in a haunted house and that of a woman who now understands why her friend was afraid to go home.
4. "Exile"
A dramatic, slowly building duet with Vernon (who sings in his lower register in addition to his signature falsetto), “Exile” depicts a couple still combing through the wreckage of a long-broken relationship. “You never gave a warning sign,” he complains; “I gave so many signs,” she responds, and the way their voices overlap, you know they’re both right.
3. "The Last Great American Dynasty"
“Folklore’s” drollest song is also its most impressive bit of storytelling: a detailed portrait of the real-life woman who owned Swift’s Rhode Island mansion — and evidently scandalized the town’s gentry — decades before the singer did.
2. "Invisible String"
Swift has said that one of her goals with “Folklore” was to write about people other than herself. But
